ROCKY MOUNTAIN SECTION OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA & IEEE LASERS AND ELECTROOPTICS SOCIETY November Meeting Date: Thursday, 20 Nov. 1997 Time: 7:00 PM Cookies, etc., 7:30 PM talk Place: National Institute of Standards and Technology 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO Room 1105 The Optrode (Optical Electrode): A New Paradigm for Chemical Sensing Dr. Alan E. Baron PhotoSense LLC Abstract: The potential for luminescence (phosphorescence and fluorescence)-based chemical sensors was demonstrated over 60 years ago. Only through recent advances in photonics, however, has the technology become commercially feasible. Implemented as an optrode using fiber optics, luminescence- based sensors can detect and measure a variety of chemical species (e.g. O2, glucose, CO2, NH3) in a wide range of applications (environmental, medical industrial and biotechnology processes). One illustrative example of such sensors is a pressure-sensitive paint which can replace electronic sensors on models in aerodynamic wind tunnel tests. Dr. Baron will discuss the principles, applications, and commercialization challenges of this nascent opto- electronic technology. Biography: Dr. Alan Baron is co-founder of PhotoSense LLC, a Boulder- based company developing innovative opto-electronic sensing technologies for measurements of physical processes in chemical or biological sciences. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Washington, Seattle WA in 1996 and a B.S. from Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA in 1989. His thesis work was based on a luminescent paint that gives a direct optical indication of the ambient partial pressure of oxygen. International research studies include the role of small aircraft aviation in Australia, South-East Asia, and Spain (funded by a Watson Fellowship), and a NSF Summer Institute in Japan Fellowship with Hamamatsu Photonics KK entailing fast imaging of cellular dynamics with streak-camera fluorescence microscopy.